Automatic fuse-resetter.



J. B. ELKIN. AUTOMATIC FUSE RESETTER. APPLICATION FILE-2D AUG. 10, 1911.

Patented Feb.20,1912

9 M1 27 III/ll!!!ll'W/IHI/IIWM 22 7 6 A TTOR/VEYS Patented Feb. 20, 1-912.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR JOHN E. ELK/N WITNESSES ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN B. ELKIN, OF COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMES HARRISON BERRY, OF COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA.

AUTOMATIC FUSE-RESETTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 20, 1912.

Application filed August 10, 1911. Serial No. 643,267.

devices for automatically resetting fuses,

and it consists in the combinations, constructions and arrangements herein described and claimed.

The main object of my invention is to provide a device to be used in connection with telegraph or telephone circuits for re setting fuses which have been burned out by lightning.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device for automatically resetting fuses which will be capable of resetting any number, thereby obviating the necessity of setting the device after each operation preparatory to the next operation.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device comprising a reel upon which the fuse wire is carried and which will feed the wire from the reel and bring it into position for automatically inserting a portion of it in the main circuit.

Other objects and advantages will appear 2 in the following specification and the novel features of the device will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming part of this application in which similar reference characters indicate like parts in the several views and in which Figure 1 is a plan view. of the device, Fig. 2 is a side view, Fig. 3 is a sectional view along the line 33 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow, Fig. A is a sectional view along the line H of Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 5 is a view of a portion of the rotary disk showing the stop disengaged, Fig. 6 is a section taken through the cam plate and disk on the line 66 of Fig. 3, the spring levers however being shown in engagement with the cam plat-e, and Fig. 7 is a detail view along the line 7-7 of Fig. 2.

In carrying out my invention I provide a base 1 upon which is mounted a clock train which I have denoted in general by T, and which may be of any suitable type. It is provided preferably with a revolving plate or vane 2 for the purpose of retarding the movement of the clock train and for rendering it uniform. The shaft 1 of the clock train is extended and on the end of the shaft is secured a disk 5 which forms the retainer for the fuse wire 6. The latter is carried by a reel 7 which is mounted on a vertical axis 8 and which is provided with a spring 9 and a screw 10 for regulating the tension of the spring against the reel.

At one end of the device is an upright 11 provided with an arm 12 bearing a pair of spring contacts 13 and 13. The arm 12 receives a terminal 14: which is held by a set screw 15, the terminal 14: being con nected with a binding post 16 by means of the wire 17.

At the opposite end of the device is an upright 18 bearing an arm 19 similar to the arm 12. This is provided with the spring contacts 20 and 20 similar to the spring contacts 13 and 13 and has a terminal 21 held by a set screw 22, the terminal being connected with a binding post 23 by the wire 24.

On the base of the device is a coneshaped guide member 25 having a pulley 26 at one end, while a stationary spring member 27 is provided between the guide 25 and the reel 6 for the purpose of brushingoff the ends of the wires which have been fused.

The disk 5 is provided with four spring clips for retaining the fuse wire like that shown at X in Fig. 7 A description of one of these will therefore suiiice since they are all alike. It consists of a head 00 mounted on a stem 00 which extends through a cylinder :0 carried by the disk 5. Within the cylinder is a spring 00 One end of the stem 00 is pivotally secured to a curved lever 00 on the opposite side of the disk from the head x. As clearly shown on the drawings there are four of these spring clips X, X", X and X The clips X and X are connected together by means of an L-shaped conductor 28, while the clips X and X are connected together by a similar L-shaped conductor 29. The outer ends of these conductors 28 and 29 are adapted to engage the spring contacts 20-20 and 13-13 respecengagement with the post 32.

tively. The disk 5 is also provided with a pair of levers like that shown at Y in Fig. 3. It will be seen that this lever is curved to receive the fuse wire, as will be hereinafter explained. The lever Y extends through a slot 30 in the disk 5 and its end is normally in engagement with a curved trigger Z (see Fig. 4). The latter is under the pressure of the spring 31 and is pro vided with a shoulder a to engage an extension 20 of a stop W, the latter being under tension of the spring 60. Similarly the lever Y passes through a slot 30 and is adapted to engage the trigger Z which controls the stop \V. Both of these stops WV and W are pivoted and will prevent the disk from turning when the stop engages the post 32' (see Fig. 4) provided its trigger is holding it stationary as is the case with the stop member WV and the trigger Z in Fig. 4. If the trigger Y is pressed away from the stop l/V, then the latter will swing on its pivot and permit the rotation of the disk, the end of the stop IV riding over the post 32 as shown in Fig. 5.

In order to operate the levers m which control the fuse wire clips I provide a cam plate 33 (see Figs. 3 and 6). It will be noticed that this cam plate has a curved upper surface 33. During the rotation of the disk the levers w come into contact with this cam plate and the heads w are pressed away from the cylinders m as clearly shown in Fig. 6.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operation thereof may be readily understood.

As stated, the fuse wire 6 is carried on the reel 7. The main line wires are connected to the binding posts 16 and 23. In setting up the device one end of the fuse wire is passed through the conical guide member 25 underneath the pulley 26 and between the heads w of the spring clips X and X. (see Fig. 2), above the lever Y, across the disk and the end of the wire is brought down between the heads of the clips X and X The apparatus is now set and ready for operation. It will be observed that the tension of the wire 6 on the lever Y will cause the latter to swing downwardly, and on looking at the reverse side of the disk which is shown in Fig. 4, it will be seen that the end of the lever Y is away from the trigger Z and therefore the latter is in a position to engage the stop W which is prevented from rotating on its pivot and therefore prevents the disk from rotating by its The current flows through the binding post 22, conductor 24, terminal 21, arm 19, springs 20, extension 28, spring clips X and X through the fuse wire, spring clips X and X 29, 13 and 13, 12, 17 and through binding post 16.

If during a storm'the fuse 6 blows, the

tension will be taken off from the lever Y which will then spring into engagement with the trigger Z thereby releasing the stop member W and permitting the disk to revolve under the tension of the spring S of the clock train T. This will cause the revolution of the disk which will draw the fuse wire 6 off from the spool 7. The tension of the fuse wire may be regulated as stated before by means of the screw 10. The wire passes on to the end of the lever Y and the clips X and X are opened to receive the wire by the engagement of the levers 00 with the cam member 33. cam member is of sufficient length so as to permit the wire to be clamped between the two heads of the clips X and X \Vhen the levers 00 pass off from the cam member 33 the heads a: are forced by means of the It will be observed that this I 1 sprmgs :0 against the .wire, thereby holding 5 it firmly between the head and the end of the cylinder 00 The rotation of the disk continues until the stop W comes into contact with the post 32 when it will stop due to the fact that the tension of the wire 6 moves the lever Y out of engagement with the trigger Z whose spring 31 will move the latter into engagement with the stop member X to hold it stationary.

It will be observed that the spring 30 is a stronger spring than the spring 31 (see Fig. 4). The disk will stop rotating when the members 29 and 28 are in a position to make electrical connection with the spring contacts 20, 20, 13 and 13. Since the only thing which keeps the disk from rotating is the fact that the stop member W is now against the post 32 it will be apparent that each time the fuse is blown the lever Y or Y, as the case may be, will be released, thereby permitting the lever to push the trigger away from the stop and thus permit the tension of the spring S to rotate the disk. The spool or reel 7 may be wound with as much wire as is necessary to supply the instrument for a considerable length of time. Since the rush of the current is only momentary and the fuse is reset immediately by the automatic action of the apparatus no loss of time will be occasioned by the lines being out of commission on account of the burning of the fuse. This in the case of telephone lines and especially toll lines results in a great saving of labor and time and maintains the line in operative condition no matter how often the fuse blows.

I claim:

1. In a device for automatically resetting fuses, a pair of terminals, a fuse between said terminals, means actuated by the blow ing of said fuse for automatically resetting another fuse between said terminals, said means comprising a revoluble disk, driving means therefor, spring clips for holding a portion of the fuse wire, a stop member arranged to be engaged by the fuse wire and to be released upon the blowing of the fuse and means for opening the clips to receive the fuse wire.

2. In a device for automatically resetting fuse wires, a revoluble disk, a pair of spring clips carried by the disk on each side thereof, a pair of levers pivotally mounted on said disk and adapted to be engaged by said fuse wire, means for opening and closing the spring clips to receive and hold a portion of the fuse wire, and means for rotating the disk.

3. In a device for automatically resetting fuse Wires, a revoluble disk, a pair of spring clips carried by the disk on each side thereof, a pair of levers pivotally mounted on said disk and adapted to be engaged by said fuse wire, means for opening and closing the spring clips to receive and hold a portion of the fuse Wire, said means com prising a cam member disposed near said disk, and a pivoted lever for each spring and clip arranged to engage said cam member during the revolution of the disk, and means for rotating the disk.

4. In a device for automatically resetting fuse wires, a revoluble disk, a pair of spring clips carried by the disk on each side thereof, a pair of levers pivot-ally mounted on said disk and adapted to be engaged by said fuse wire, means for opening and closing the spring clips to receive and hold a portion of the fuse wire, said means comprising a cam member disposed near said disk, a pivoted lever for each spring and clip arranged to engage said cam member during the revolution of the disk, means controlled by said levers for causing the stoppage of the disk at a predetermined point, and means for rotating the disk upon the disengagement of the fuse wire from the lever.

5. In a device for automatically resetting fuse wires, a pair of terminals, a rotatable disk provided with contacts arranged to engage said terminals, a pair of spring clips connected with one of said contacts, a second pair of spring clips connected with the other of said contacts, each of said spring clips comprising a cylinder, a spring-pressed stem therein, ahead at one end of the stem, and a pivoted lever secured to the other end of the stem, a cam member disposed near said disk and arranged to be engaged by said pivoted lever for actuating the latter, said spring clips being arranged to engage and retain a portion of the fuse wire, and means act-uated by the blowing of the fuse wire for causing the rotation of the disk.

6. In a device for automatically resetting fuse wires, a rotatable disk, spring clips carried by said disk for engaging and re taining a fuse wire, a lever arranged to be engaged by a portion of the fuse wire, a trigger normally engaged by said lever and arranged to be free when the lever is moved, a stop member arranged to be engaged by said trigger, and a post arranged to be engaged by said stop member for limiting the movement of the disk.

7 In a device for automatically resetting fuse wires, a base, a reel mounted thereon for carrying fuse wires, a disk, spring clips carried by said disk and arranged to engage and retain a portion of the fuse wire, means for rotating the disk, means for stopping the disk in a predetermined position, said stopping means being retracted on the blowing of the fuse wire to permit the rotation of the disk and the subsequent engagement of another portion of the fuse wire by the spring clips.

JOHN B. ELKIN.

Witnesses:

A. F. SPIGNER, PORTER A. MGMASTER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

